Helga Hops Mad
by C. Steve McGrath1
Summary: There is an urban legend being told about a church arson started by a "bunnyman". It's Halloween now, and Arnold and his friends create another nightmare similar to that of the novel "Year of the Angry Rabbit" by Russel Braddon. Speaking of the disclaimer, only Viacom owns the rights to Hey Arnold. If I did own it, I would feel overconfident to be the greatest man alive.
1. Chapter 1

It's a beautiful night outside the Pataki house, where the leaves are falling red, golden, orange, and yellow. Halloween decorations are being displayed in a few places.

The clock ticks in the bedroom where Bob Pataki is sleeping. He wakes up to get a glass of water from the sink in his bathroom, when he suddenly sees a shadow. And then he finds out it is his young daughter, Helga, in her bedroom, sitting on her bed with her new pajamas. It is not in the suit she sometimes sleepwalks in. She thinks she just got it from her grandma Geraldine for Halloween, one of two one-piece suits that tightly enclose your body with a back zipper and a hood open-faced. This one she is wearing now is plain white, and she plans to wear it under a Halloween costume. She is feeling very comfortable in fact. Miriam Pataki, her mother, really loves it as well when she tucks Helga into bed as a way to break away from her alcohol addiction.

"And remember…" Miriam reminds Helga then asks like she is tired. "You can't wear that to school. The other kids won't know who you are."

When Helga hurriedly puts her hood up, the father, Bob Pataki, comes in.

"Miriam!" He says.

Helga then gets her feet out of bed and says, "What do you think of my PJs, dad? Dad?"

"They're…cute."

Miriam says, "This costume also has fingers and toes."

"Thanks." She says more politely, although her intimidating, ferocious rudeness is so funny she means to say nice things.

Dad says "Helga, you're all covered in tights. Look at yourself. It seems to me that you look like an astronaut from outer space or something."

Helga giggles and says, "I guess this is the most comfortable thing I've ever tried on."

Miriam agrees. Helga then goes to her bedroom mirror and laughs at herself in the suit. The tight hood, zipping her head, enclosing the body, leaving the face to breathe and see. She just stared there, admiring herself as a little lady. She continues to giggle when she puts her school clothes on top of that.

She laughs and laughs until she looks at a photograph of herself and says in amazement, "I do look like a space girl! I sure do look cute in that. But I think I'll just go to school without it tomorrow."

Pataki keeps true to her word the next morning and wears the pink bow, red belt, and white shirt, like she does every single day.

Fifteen minutes have passed since the bell rang and Mr. Simmons has not shown up in his classroom at P.S. 118. "Is he sick?" "Is he coming?"

Well, the fifth graders do not care. Instead they are messing around, playing, laughing, and literally not taking care of business. They are loud and Arnold finds it to be annoying.

"Now, _I'm_ going to be the teacher!" says Curly Gammelthorpe, one of the classmates.

"Nice try, freak!" Helga obnoxiously replies.

The kids are laugh while Helga walks to her seat in the back. She then blows a spitball at Arnold, who then turns around and grins at her.

Helga writes in her journal:

_Happy Halloween, Blah, blah, blah; what else is there to say? Oh yes, dearest love Arnold. The class, they're talking about his bunny pajamas and Mr. Simmons is not here. Oh, that teacher from hell! Criminy!_

"Arnold wears bunny pajamas!" Stinky Peterson says. Arnold gets frustrated.

The near-cool kid, Iggy Brittanays then gets frustrated, "I don't want to hear that from any of you. Okay? Clear?"

Arnold thinks to himself, "I don't know what we'll be doing in here today."

Gerald does not know what he is thinking either.

Then Phoebe mentions to Iggy, "But you've earned Arnold's trust."

Arnold says, "No."

Helga, who used to be that nasty bully in the fourth grade, blurts out, "Then _you_ still have a football-shaped head, you know."

She throws a few spitballs at him and their classmates are humiliating him. She gets up from her seat in the back, pushes Brainy and says, "Move it freak!"

Sid then mentions, "Remember the other day Iggy had on bunny pajamas?"

"Enough is enough!" Arnold is feeling irritated and frustrated with the bunny PJ idea.

Anyway, there's a new kid at school who just got kicked out of school for hitting another student with a basketball during recess. At lunch Phoebe Heyerdahl, the smart girl, walks up to Lila, Rhonda, and Helga and suggests introducing them to Maggie.

Helga asks, "Who are you?"

The newcomer replies, "My name is Maggie. Maggie Anne Harris. Who are _you?"_

"That's Helga G. Pataki. That's Rhonda Wellington Lloyd. And this is Lila Sawyer" says Phoebe.

Iggy notices Maggie and walks toward her. She is that tall, red-eyed, Oxford-born girl with brownish, curly, boyish hair combed to the side, and a face just like Helga's, but has more of a soft English accent. Helga's bow is pink; whereas hers is more turquoise.

"Oh I remember you." He says.

"Iggy!" She then gives him a hug and says, "I remember seeing you on the playground the other day."

Helga then comes up to Maggie and says, "Guess what newcomer!"

"What?" Maggie replies.

Helga says, "I intimidate people a lot. And this time I'm gonna pound ya."

"Helga," Phoebe warns. "You don't have to do this! She's an ordinary bully, just like you."

"Oh Criminy" Helga goes. She then pauses and moves on to another subject. "By the way, do you know what you're going to dress up as tonight?"

Phoebe says she wants to be Vampira. Lila Sawyer says she is going to be a pilgrim in a bonnet, Maggie is going to dress up as a nun in disguise, and Rhonda is going to be a magician.

"No!" Helga says. "Last year's Halloween with us being aliens was great. You know, we pranked the whole city…"

"I think that the class should do something a little different tonight." Phoebe suggests.

"Good thinking!" says Lila. "Well, it doesn't have to _be_ the whole class."

Helga says, "It doesn't have to be. But we're still going to scare the daylights out of people. This time, we're going to be bloody corpses, sleepwalking through the night. We'll take old clothes and rip em'. Then we're gonna apply make-up."

She then stares at Iggy as he silently walks away.

She then mentions to the other girls, "As for me, my grandma Geraldine sewed me up a bunny costume…"

They giggle at her and Maggie says "Don't you remember Helga? My brother Richie sewed up a bunny costume for you."

"And there's another for my imaginary friend! A kid you know already."

"What's his name?" Rhonda asks.

"Arnold." Helga replies. "Anyway, wear any Halloween costume you want, but just rip them up. We're going to be zombies tonight.

At the playground, seven classmates, counting Arnold, are playing a game of basketball. Arnold is playing against Helga in a match-up. Helga thinks that the rest of the kids are better than him. After Arnold passes the ball for a check, he has possession of it.

"Pray no one will make fun of me. Three classmates think I'm dumb but I'm not giving up. Think action on the play. Think, Arnold. Think!" The football headed kid says to himself.

He then runs and dribbles the ball. Helga attempts to block him.

"Do it Arnold!" Sid cheers.

Helga then goes in for a lay-up, fouled by Arnold from behind, he gets shoved. Ouch!

Gerald asks Arnold, "Are you okay?"

"Nice going, football head!" Helga goes.

Kids laugh in the background at Arnold, as she walks away. Helga then sits along the fence in private and grabs her chained locket out with Arnold's picture in it. While talking to her chained locket quietly, she expresses love, passion, and poetry.

"My love! If only I cared deeply about him. Oh! I hate him and yet I love him. I hate him and yet I love him! Oh!"

Arnold then walks up to her from behind and simply says, "Helga, I'm sorry."

"I forgive you." Helga speaks calmly. She then turns around harshly.

"I mean - what are you doing sneaking up on me, you little creep!"

"Sorry." says Arnold.

Helga then says, "You know what; you are just a complete idiot, football head!"

Gerald then comes up to him. "Hey Arnold, there's a bash over at Stinky's tonight and you're all invited."

Harold says to Arnold in an intimidating way, "Everybody's going to recognize you Arnold!"

"Yeah!" Stinky says. "Even if you don't want nobody knowin' who you are, you still gonna be…recognized."

The kids laugh at Arnold, putting him down. He lowers his head to the ground, ashamed. "I can't believe it." He is humiliated enough to walk away from his friends, while they simply laugh at him.

At his house at 4040 East Vine Street, Arnold is sitting on the couch in his living room. Grandma Gertrude, in her late sixties, is cooking some mashed potatoes and green beans in her witch outfit. Grandpa Phil, in his mid-seventies, and their guests: Ernie Potts, Mr. Hyunh, Mr. Kokoschka, are also in the living room.

Arnold is trying to explain what happened on the playground. "I can't believe it. Why does it have to be so bad out there?"

Grandpa says, "Forget about it, short man."

"You know Grandpa, Halloween is intended to scare the daylights out of people."

"Exactly."

"I read in the Hillwood Times today that the aliens are invading the entire city again." Mr. Hyunh says.

Arnold and Grandpa gasp in surprise.

Arnold says, "Not again!"

Ernie says it was all a prank from last year.

Grandpa says, "Exactly!"

Grandma is saying that she read in the paper that the alien invasion from the year before was just a trick, according to city officials. Mr. Kokoschka concurs and says that the people involved were just kids in costumes. Arnold can remember what happened, but he barely gets it off of his mind. Ever.

At the time he speaks passionately about what he is going to wear for a Halloween costume. "This year, I'm going to be a prison inmate, with chains and manacles."

Grandpa says that he will wear the same costume as the year before, as a hag.

About to fight, Ernie goes "Oh yeah?"

"I read today that the aliens are attacking from the west side of the city." Mr. Hyunh says.

Ernie Potts proves "Yet they don't exist!"

"Yet they do!" Mr. Kokoschka points out. "Look, I'm going to have to get out of here and go back to my place, pet the kitty."

Oskar Kokoshka just left the big house, while Arnold goes into his room to change into his costume.


	2. Chapter 2

Now to the Patakis' residence, where Helga is in her bedroom, dressing up as a bunny, disguising herself completely. Helga tries to reach the back zipper of her new pajama suit, having her hair all tied, pinned, and pinched back flat to make her look like a boy and to feel the pressure on her head. But she needs to cover up her hair with a strapped headdress similar to a swimming cap. She, in a desire for love, takes out her chained locket of Arnold from the drawer in front of her and stares at it.

"My love! With my soul burning, with doubt none, he will make mine girlhood dream come true. Oh, that knucklehead. He and I kiss at first sight and live in eternal bliss!" She then sighs in romantic relief. "Then I don't ever have to bully you again."

There is a hood in the front with a huge whole that lines her face right where the chin and neck meet and go to the top of her forehead. She pulls it up and pulls up her back zipper to the point where only the face is not sealed. She then hears a knock on the door. It's Olga, her crazy twenty-two year-old sister, who is wearing a playboy bunny costume tonight.

"Can I come in?" She asks. "Can I help you with something, little sis?"

"Get out of my room!" Helga shouted.

She then seeks advice from Olga when she becomes calmer.

"Look, I need help with my zipper, okay." She says.

Olga says in reply, "That suit you're wearing is too tight on you. I suggest you take it off now."

Helga then argues, "Hey, the suit that I'm about to put on is ripped. And you can see my skin through it without an extra layer. I don't want _anyone_ to know _who_ I really am as far as...I mean I decided to put on this added layer, as part of my bunny costume."

Olga changes her mind. "Wow! This is going to be the perfect disguise. Aw! Bob and Miriam are going to see you blushing with that scary outfit!" She says excitedly.

While turning to her mirror and putting on make-up, Helga says, "Yeah, yeah. They're going to laugh at me just like my imaginary friend would be humiliated."

Olga then asks, "You're talking about Arnold, right? That kid with a football-shaped head?"

"Yeah right." Helga says.

Olga then suggests, "Don't put on the extra makeup just yet, little sister."

Olga then helps Helga put on a second layer of zentai, this time blood-red with a back hood. These suits are made of skin-tight nylon, spandex material, parts of what are inferred to be zentai costumes, which increase the pressure all over her body. She nowadays wears them to bed with pajamas on top. For her own safety, however, the suits that she will be wearing tonight are both open faced. Her face, the eyes, nose, and mouth will be shown so that she may be able to see and breathe properly. Other than that, her entire body from head to toe, her ears, hair, head, hands, and feet will be covered and tightly enclosed. And she just put on white make-up. In addition, to go on top of the red hood, there is a mask with a detailed bunny face with black eyes and white fur, leaving the mouth and part of the cheeks, and is sealed by Velcro in the back of the mask. There is another piece to the costume that may affect her speech: the teeth. And that should disguise her voice. How cute can that possibly be? Helga is then assisted to slip on the actual thin-furred layer of the bunny costume.

"Now I want you to close your eyes…until I tell you to open them."

Helga closes her eyes, sitting straight up, with her knees crossed in front of the mirror.

"It's a surprise!" Olga says as she pulls up Helga's zipper and laughs.

Helga then opens her eyes and feels humiliated. "Hey!"

"Keep em' closed." Olga says.

Without question, Helga does what her big sis tells her to do. This time she does not argue.

Meanwhile, Helga plays a flashback video in her mind of the Easter before, when Arnold was dressed as a bunny at City Park. Spring was in the air, the flowers, the butterflies, the reflection of the rainbow, and the children collecting eggs, putting them in baskets. Helga was one of those children and one of those who were making fun of Arnold in a bunny suit. Yet now it is October and Helga is still laughing. This time to herself.

A few minutes later, everything that makes Helga turn into a road-kill bunny has been done. Helga puts on the fury face mask with prosthetic bunny eyes on glasses extending from the forehead, then her actual bunny costume, which has a few rips in it. Next, after the second additional layer suit, composed of actual, snow-white rabbit fur and Zentai material had been zipped all the way; Olga has just added gruesome make-up detail to the costume without leaving stains. Helga's face is still completely white with make-up. After the white has been filled in, and after the bunny suit had been put on, there is a second layer: red representing the flow of blood down her beautiful face. Other than adding the disturbing features, filing the pores, and adding the cuts and bruises sticking out, Olga notices the features of the costume itself. At first it is all white but still realistic; featuring the long ears, the sharp claws, and the soft, bushy tail. Olga also covered up the mask with make-up. That way no one could tell if it is Helga G. Pataki.

"_Now _open your eyes." Olga asks.

When Helga actually opens her blue eyes, she screams in terror and notices she is seeing through prosthetic bunny eyes, through a furred but very tight face mask.

Olga then asks, "What do you think? Hmm? Is that the real bunny…you're…"

Still frightened, Helga says, "Yeah. I don't look human. Honest."

"You can talk human still." Olga giggles.

Helga says "Yeah."

Olga then holds out her sister's arm and paints more reddish color on to it.

"I spoke on the phone with my colleague, Stephanie, a few minutes ago." Olga says. "She is not going to recognize you when she stops by, and she never even met you before."

"Will anyone know who the bunny is?" Helga asks.

"Never." Olga says, but then looks at her watch. "It's six o' clock. Do you have a party to go to?"

Helga looks at the grandfather clock in the room and is now in a rush."I'm late!"

Olga says "Well you better not get going. Well, you better. The Petersons are expecting you."

Helga picks up a slip of paper from her desk and says to her sister, "Okay, if you need me…I'll be going to a cookout."

Helga walks towards the front door and hears a doorbell. She answers it and leaves the door open. She sees three older girls, about Olga's age, dressed in their costumes. They are scared and they start to giggle. Stephanie is one of them. "Trick or treat!"

Helga makes a creeping posture, scaring Stephanie who runs scared with the other two girls. At the same time, there come two strangers, a man and his elderly mother, riding together in a small truck. The pick-up stops completely for a moment and the strangers are laughing humiliatingly at bunny Helga, who walks away.

The grumpy Helga G. Pataki stares at the driver of the pick-up and says, "I'll see you in hell dead where the nightmare stands in your way." She then gives a frightening laugh.

Arnold and Gerald walk on the street with the slips of paper in their pockets, looking around at several of the spooky light displays in the neighborhood, the brown leaves falling off the colorful trees, and many of the kids trick-or-treating. The only kids that they have counted are themselves; Gerald's sister, Timberly, as a gypsy; as many as five 6th graders, two third-graders, three fourth-graders, and two of the boys' classmates: Iggy and Maggie. Maggie is dressed as a nun; she is pretending to be a zombie. She would disguise herself with a headdress and a plastic mask so that no one could recognize her. Iggy is dressed up as a civil war soldier who had just arisen from his grave. Arnold and Gerald could possibly not believe that a boy and girl would walk together at night with a basket of candies from all around the world. Arnold is in his black-and-white striped prison uniform. Gerald is in clothes that appear to be his regular street clothes, with the #33, but are ripped and stained with dots of red paint. Iggy and Maggie walk up to them. They, Arnold, and Gerald are frightened of each other, when Maggie reveals her face.

"Iggy! Maggie! What are you doing here?" Arnold asks.

Iggy replies, "We've just gone trick-or-treating. We're headed to Stinky's now."

Gerald said that it is just on the east end of the neighborhood, a few blocks away from the hotel.

"Exactly!" Iggy says. "I remember Stinky was saying it's the oldest house in the neighborhood."

"I don't understand. This weight is getting heavy on me, Gerald." says Arnold.

"Tonight's festivities are going to be great!" Maggie exclaims. "Rhonda's going to apply make-up 'an put off a magic show. And Stinky's going to throw a huge party!"

Arnold says, "That's…that's great!"

"We're going to be zombies tonight!" Maggie exclaims. "Can't you believe that?"

"Wanna come with us?" Gerald asks.

Maggie says, "Oh sure. Let's go."

Inside Stinky's cabin house, the kids are having a good time, chit-chatting, getting their costumes ready, dancing to the music, bobbing apples, and having some candy and snacks, and punch of course. In the background, we find several decorations, including an antique casket with a skeleton in it. When the scene opens, Stinky (dressed as farmer), Lila (dressed as a pilgrim), Harold (dressed in a pair of ripped clothes and a hockey mask), Phoebe (dressed as Vampira), Patty, (dressed as a beautiful princess), Rhonda (a magician), Eugene (dressed as a zombie Elvis), Sid (in a Frankenstein mask), Sheena (as Spider Woman), Brainy (dressed as a silly shogun), and Curly (dressed as Dracula) are dressed as the living dead, dancing for their own pleasure. Rhonda, who had costumed them to be so terrifying, to appear as if they are walking dead, is about to put on a magic show…when Arnold, Gerald, Iggy, and Maggie come to the door.

"Who's there?" Mrs. Peterson, Stinky's mom, answers. Then she opens the door. "Howdy!"

"Trick-or-treat!" says Iggy.

Stinky greets his buddies over when his dad, walks into the living room with a pumpkin.

"C'mon in folks! Arnold!" Stinky says. "We got bunches of candy in our own livin' room.

"That's sure nice of you." Gerald says in reply.

Phoebe comes up and hugs him. "Gerald!"

"How do I look? Huh?" Gerald asks Phoebe.

"You look just fine." says Arnold.

Phoebe then wonders, "Do you know where Helga is?"

Like she does not really care, Rhonda replies, "Well I don't."

Phoebe says, "I have no clue what she's doing tonight, but she told me in secret."

"O C'mon Missy, I want to know the secret." Maggie asks Phoebe.

"Okay." She then turns to Arnold. "But I can only tell you in a few words, Arnold: She doesn't want you to dress up like that."

Arnold is like "What? Who?"

"Maggie." She says in reply.

"Where's Nadine?"

"She's at home sick."

"The Petersons have a sliding door for a closet?" Rhonda says. "What do you think?"

But then the kids go silent all the sudden and the music stops.

"Yep." says Rhonda in the brown, tattered suit coat and red turtle neck. "This would be the perfect closet for a magic show!"

The kids applaud.

"In this act…" she then tells Arnold to get in the closet and then she closes the door.

She continues, "Ladies and Gentlemen…"

Gerald interrupts, "Whatever you say. By the way…"

"What now?" Rhonda asks.

" Iggy and Maggie just got a basket of these candies from all over the world. Most of them are from the Jolly Old Man, of course. Rhonda, before you do anything, I have an urban legend to tell…about the night when the bunnies attacked the neighborhood. It all began when two bunny parents broke loose from the pet shop. There was this mother who had a litter of nine babies. There was the father, who was an assistant to the rabbit queen of vampires, out in the woods, who got eaten by the fox queen. No one could succeed the rabbit queen but her own daughter, who would force the rabbit couple to join the blood clan whenever they came to stay in the queen's borough. Although the lovable critters loved them, the long-footed mother and long-footed father had escaped the woods and were ready to hunt down their prey. Their first unanimous victim was a rabid, fierce, black hound dog just across the street from the house of the Stoop Kid. The hound had more strength than the bunnies themselves. After the feast was over, they began scaring and attacking people, killing five of them."

"I watched that on the news last night." Phoebe commented. "I mean it's terrible."

That urban legend was based on an event that happened the night before, making headlines throughout the city. A mental patient escaped a bus transporting other patients to an institution when it crashed in the woods near a bridge. Wearing a bunny suit, he was literally running for his life in the busy city streets. He sneaked inside a cathedral, butchered whoever was inside, and threw lit candles all over the place. The church burst into flames. According to the fire department, four of the pews were destroyed. The sanctuary would have been called the bloody victims' tomb. The "Bunny Man" was lucky enough to escape before the church closed temporarily. People who came to the cathedral every week say the place had been cursed by the devil for over fifty years.

Rhonda moves on. "Okay, let's get started. Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to watch this football-headed prisoner disappear…"

The kids laugh, Rhonda shuts the door and opens it back up, and Arnold turns into a white rabbit, covered with stitches, bruises and bloody cuts.

In the other room, Mr. Peterson is watching a new television movie on the SCI FI Channel entitled "Night of the Lepus". It was filmed in Hillwood, and on other islands adjacent to it, and was directed by Dontae Hill. He has only watched the beginning of the film. While the kids are partying and having a ball, Mrs. Peterson is about to put some popcorn in an old microwave, in between two pumpkins on a table.

The kids laugh and humiliate Arnold, who is now wearing a bloody, stitched, bruised, beat-up, bunny suit, leaving his face open with paint for the whiskers. And just like Helga's suit, it has long, veined ears, fingers and toes with claws, a bushy tail, and white, natural fur, but not a nose.

"Knock it off you guys." says Arnold.

The kids still laugh at him. The Petersons hear the commotion and are very frightened. Phoebe could not hypothesize where the bunny came from, but Arnold turns out to be wearing bunny pajamas. Rhonda still cannot remember why she has possessed a magical, "fright night" power beyond science.

At the same time, Helga G. Pataki, in her bunny costume, sneaks below a window without anybody noticing and then breaks through the door in a furious mood to scare the kids. Nobody could recognize her but one.

The kids gasp in surprise and stand affrightedly against the wall.

"I thought I just wanted to hop on in, hoping I can join in the little festivities." She says. "I feast on you tonight and I'll be the one to settle the score."

"That mutant has got to be Helga G. Pataki." Gerald says.

Sid goes, "But we don't know if it's her."

"I can recognize a few people in this room: Stinky, Patty, Brainy, Gerald, Lila, Sheena…" She then notices Arnold."Well, if this isn't…"

A farting noise is heard in the background and the kids laugh.

"…if it isn't for this stupid, farting, long-eared football head!" Helga says obnoxiously.

"Who are you?" Arnold asks. "How do you know my name? Why did you show up?"

Phoebe Heyerdahl then interrupts the conversation and asks the white furred rabbit, "Uh, excuse me, Mr. Bunny?"

"Yes?" Helga says in reply.

"Do you know where Helga Geraldine Pataki is?"

"You mean what happened to her? I-"

It turns out that Helga is lost in thought, while tapping her toe, scratching her fury head, trying her best to act like the bunny she is dressed as.

"Go ahead." Arnold says.

"Take your time." says Phoebe.

But the rabbit then comes up with a grave answer to fill in the blanks: "Killed her."

And that shocks all the kids and makes them very upset, sobbing and crying on a Halloween night.

"What?" Arnold cries.

"Oh no, sh-sh-she told me she had a twin brother named Helgo." Phoebe sobs. "Helgo Eugene Pataki. He died when they were just toddlers. And now she's going to be with him again."

"We'll never see her again!" Harold cries.

"Are you insane?" Gerald says to the rabbit.

"You killed Helga?" Arnold soberly rages with tears in his eyes. "You're a monster!"

"What did I ever do to you, football head?" Helga asks.

But Arnold wants her to stay out of the party and go into the wild.

"She was my friend." Arnold says as he opens the front door. "Happy Halloween!"

"B-B-But Wait! Arnold!" she begs.

"You should go back into the wild where you belong." Arnold suggests to Helga, though he cannot tell who the rabbit is.

Harshly, Helga says "Speaking of death, you just freaked me out, bucko."

"Your voice!" he notices. "It sounds like Helga's!"

"By the way, I just found a place where we can be alone and enjoy the wild a little more." Helga says in a calm manner.

"I don't want to even go there. I'd rather stay here in the neighborhood." Arnold fears. "The people! They're going to find us and capture us!"

"No. As long as we're in the wild…" Then she says obnoxiously, "Just come on!"

Arnold then tells his classmates, "I'll be back! He and I are going trick-or-treating."

"Please don't go!" Lila cries, holding Stinky's mother's hand-held mirror. "Just look at yourself!"

Arnold looks at the mirror just for a second and discovers his appearance. How scarred, how scratched, how bruised, how terrifying, how beat-up his face turns out. The costume, as real as it gets, is the same type of costume Helga has on. The kids cannot tell if Arnold is in a costume or not. They had to assume Arnold transformed into a bunny rabbit. Arnold shakes in fear and accidentally breaks the mirror; breathes heavily, enduring the terror that he could not get out of his mind. The kids laugh at him.

"Are you okay?" Gerald asks Arnold.

"No. This can't be happening!" Arnold says. "I'm wearing a bunny costume! I'm very sorry, Stinky."

"Sure fine." Stinky says. "For what?"

"For breaking your mirror…"

"That's all right, bunny boy."

The kids laugh at Arnold, despite the fact that Stinky understands enough to forgive him.

"This mad one and I need to spend time alone." Arnold says as he walks out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

At the Hillwood County Sherriff's office downtown, Sherriff Jim Good is in his office, taking a break from his duties, watching TV. Well…the news in particular.

He is watching a news anchorman appear on the screen, giving his report. "We now have to bring to our viewers our top story of the night. Good evening. I'm Sharon Parks for Channel B Action News. Douglass Cain has the night off. I am warning you now, the images you are about to see are very disturbing."

"This has got to be related to law enforcement." He predicts as the reporter tells the story.

The anchorman is reporting. "Scientists have made a terrible mistake, concerning the food chain and animal prey. But a ten-year-old girl, whose father runs the business Big Bob's Beepers, is dead tonight. Helga Pataki had been gone missing for hours. The entire community has been shocked. They were looking for her and now her body has finally been discovered in the woods not far from Hillwood Catholic Church, on the near east side, which is the largest and perhaps most haunted church in the city. It is believed that a group of giant, mutant bunny rabbits have now killed her and five other people already. Near where little Helga's body was found; family members provided a makeshift memorial. Rest in peace."

While Ernie Potts is shown on TV in front of the mailman, sharing his opinions about the incident, some of Good's deputies come into his office to find out what all the noise was about.

"Gentlemen," the Sherriff says. "We have a very grave situation here."

"What is it, Sherriff?" one of the deputies asks.

"You just missed it." The Sherriff mentions. "A little ten-year-old girl was killed by bunny rabbits tonight on the news."

The deputy says, "Well guess what, Sherriff. The chief of city police just sent us these photos of the rabbits."

While looking at the photographs, Sherriff Good said in a statement, "the problem is we don't want the public to see these photos. Those bunnies weren't on the news anyways, but they still made headlines. Where were the photos taken?"

Another deputy tells Good, "Well Sherriff, they must have taken them near the cathedral at the park near Crown Hill."

And the Sherriff says without a mistake, "There is a mob out there and we're with them. And mark my words: they will hunt those wild rabbits down!"

Meanwhile at Adam Marks hotel, a few blocks away from Stinky's home, Helga spots a motorcycle gang of about seventeen people, about to go for a joyride. She sees about nine motorcycles and now she's going to persuade Arnold to scare the grown-ups.

"I'd rather go back to Stinky's than hide under this car." Arnold tells the rabbit.

The rabbit then reminds him, "Now, Arnold, we have to be very quiet."

"You're not supposed to do this! They'll think we're crazy! They'll think one of us really set the church on fire!"

"Oh shut up football head!"

"I don't want to be seen like this. I am not a bunny."

"This is going to be the best Halloween ever! C'mon!"

The rabbit then comes closer to a weed field of tall grass and starts picking at the grass.

"What are you doing?" Arnold asks.

The rabbit says she is picking at the leaves, dandelions, and grass.

"I'm warning you long-eared fellow." He says. "The angry mob will see us doing that!"

"So that we got food in store for the next season"

"So that we got food in store for the next season" the rabbit giggles. "Hunting season's coming up, you know."

Arnold then walks over to the grass, does what HELGA is doing while silent.

"Arnold c'mon" Helga says. "Do your job! Pick at the greens!

"Ssh! Quiet! They'll hear you!" he reminds her while picking at the grass.

Arnold and Helga have now picked some grass, flowers, weeds, and leaves from the ground a few minutes later and made shares among themselves. Next they rush inside the hotel and scare the guests and staff in the hotel lobby.

One of them is like, "Oh my word! It's them! It's those bunnies who were just on the news!"

Another guest cries out, "Mercy!"

Helga scratches a woman in the face and both Helga and Arnold runs around hopping and creeping people out in the hallway. Their next victim is a hotel manager, just coming out of the elevator with bags of luggage from upstairs. Then Helga attacks a little girl who is about to go swimming.

A frustrated Arnold comes up to Helga and tries to suggest something. "Look, I had enough. We can't be doing this."

He kidnaps her, holds her mouth, and then they leave.

"C'mon! Let's go trick-or-treating!" He says. "First we'll go back to Stinky's place and get some buckets."

These two kids in bunny costumes are now hopping in another eastside neighborhood, this one near Cedar Park, Crown Hill, somewhere near the cathedral where Olga Pataki should have been married before. Helga sees her parents, Bob and Miriam; carry a corpse into Bob's car. She recognizes them but does not tell Arnold. Arnold is walking over to the makeshift and expresses sorrow over Helga, sniffling with tears in his eyes when he knows how sadly he will miss her forever. He sees flowers, cards, Helga's stuffed toys, childhood photographs, a Virgin Mary statue, a cross, and a few buckets containing several Halloween candies from many different countries, including the United States. Helga hops over to Arnold.

"What a pity." She says, looking ashamed.

Disappointed, Arnold simply says solemnly, "Yeah." He is not feeling happy at the moment for he is grieving over the loss of his friend, rather than enjoy life as it is.

The rabbit comes over to Arnold and says spitefully, "Get over it football head! Today's not the time to cry. It's a time to have fun. Don't you understand? Like kids are going out trick-or-treating, passing out candy, throwing parties, and playing tricks. You know?"

Arnold cries out loud, "But you don't understand, Halloween is ruined! Just tell me a joke! Maybe it will help me stop crying."

"See you're washing the blood away from your wide face, jerk."

"I am?"

"Ssh! They'll hear you!" Helga whispers.

She just got settled and on with the subject. "Okay. On with the jokes! You look in the mirror every day and comb your hair but you end up looking humiliating, football head. And you know why?"

"Why?" Arnold says in a quiet tone.

She says, "It's your head that has a weird shape, a deformation that not too many people have, to be honest. I mean, your eyes are spread apart, you have wide cheeks…"

She slaps Arnold then continues.

"What's unusual about you is that you have a little body. Most other footballs don't have that. And nobody has that shape."

Arnold is frustrated by that insult.

She continues, "Whenever your head comes off, it'll be kicked wide, across a field."

Not intending to scorn Helga, he tries to teach her a lesson. "This is not funny, bunny. It's torture."

"You also don't have the line markings, football head." Helga says.

"I had enough of that." He says. "You think I'm the stupidest kid in school?"

"The name's Honey by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Honey." He laughs. She laughs along as well.

"What an affectionate name!" she cracks up. "I'm going to die with you."

The laughter continues until Helga blurted out, "Kiss me you knucklehead."

So then they kiss and later give themselves some space.

"Honey?" This was what he said that made him roll to the ground, laughing so hard again.

Helga then has a plan about to take shape. "Listen, Arnold. What we're going to do is steal two of these baskets."

"What are we going to do with them next?" Arnold asks.

She says, "We will go out into the woods and hide them."

"But I don't think we'll be safe."

"And speaking of your football-shaped head, you're just like me. Look at yourself. Your face is snow white, like the fur you have all over. Notice your fingers and toes have sharp claws. You are looking very natural."

"Not only that…"

A sheriff's deputy arrives at the scene. Arnold and Helga split up with their baskets and shots are fired.

However, their plan to go back to the party did not turn out as planned. After hiding pieces of candy in the nearby neighborhood, Arnold is in a wooded area right next door to the church cemetery at Crown Hill. He skips, hops, thumps, thinks, and has his feet on the ground for a while when he has the pieces of Halloween candy from his basket scattered throughout the forest. He enjoys hopping to a dry area by the creek and starts playing with leaves. This is when he is not only scary but is also frightened himself. He can hear strange noises, like an owl and crickets. He is afraid that a predator is coming for him, that zombies will eat him alive, that someone can spot him with flashlights in the dark of night, that a millions eyes will stare at him until he screams.

"Hey! I know what I'll do. I'll go hide under the huge burrow where Honey won't see me." He is thinking.

Arnold is heading toward the nearest burrow, from on the spot, while he looks behind and spots a hawk, a native predator of the white rabbit. Arnold fits into the hole and finds that it is a small, crowded place to hide. The hawk peeks into the burrow and sees Arnold. But its beaks would not fit into the rabbit hole and Arnold is hiding deeper, farther than the hawk could reach. The hawk flies away. Arnold still tries to conceal himself in the burrow and everything is safe. He is still feeling afraid, because now he is seeing a dark shadow of a critter who takes his mask off.

"Ah!" Arnold screams.

It's a squirrel! Arnold cannot speak because he cannot understand what the squirrel is trying to communicate with its cute, little sound. It looks as if the squirrel is offering Arnold its acorn to nibble on. Arnold has to be very careful because bunnies cannot usually speak like humans do. He is supposed to be a mime. Therefore he is afraid to even speak to the little squirrel. And bunnies usually prefer carrots over acorns. The football head is beginning to make a friendship with the squirrel, the squirrel that has not felt the terror of this abysmal rabbit.

Arnold then escapes from the burrow, pulls a certain wildflower from the ground, and sniffs at it. What is Arnold thinking? Is he about to eat it or is he about to give it to Helga, who has just now touched his shoulder.

"Watch out! There is a sly fox out to eat us!" Helga warns.

"You mean the both of us?" Arnold asks.

The fox Helga has just mentioned is sneaking behind a tree. Both Helga and Arnold are startled when they see the fox sneak up on them. Helga knows that the rabbit is a weakling to the fox; she still wants to defeat the fox in a battle to the death or simply run away as a means of resisting. But it turns out the fox is just a mascot costume worn by someone else; in other words a kid takes off his mask.

Both bunnies are surprised, "Peapod Kid?"

Peapod Kid's first words to them are (his real name is Henry, by the way): "You know who I am? To be honest, I don't know you."

"What are you doing here?" Arnold asks.

Helga goes, "Ssh!"

Peapod Kid says "I happen to play a little trick on you."

"What are you talking about, Peapod Kid?"

"There's a spider on top of my head."

Helga is immediately frightened and holds onto Arnold.

"You know I have a bunny like you who is _easily_ frightened." Henry tells.

"Oh yeah?" Helga angers. "This time _you_ are going to be frightened even more bucko, cause I'm about to rip you with the sharp edge of my claws!"

"Take it easy, now! We've been videotaping you this whole time!"

Wafa, the unorthodox, doubled-chinned, little girl, standing nearby with a video camera, who went to a private school in Texas, is one of the sixth graders at P.S. 118. She wears the black scarf as a Muslim, never takes it off, and never truly reveals herself. She does not get to choose what to wear on the top of her head, because it is a religious duty. It is strange but true. Yet her parents force her to wear it a certain way and look Asiatic. There is nothing much to describe her, except that she is beautiful and friendly. Her oral expressions always turn out to be jealousy and anger. She was recently in a car accident, suffered a broken jaw, and is a good older friend of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd. She never dresses up for Halloween.

"Well, it looks like we caught _you _on camera!" Wafa says.

"Wait a minute, Wafa" says Henry. "The light isn't on yet."

"Criminy, just film us!" Helga asks.

"Peapod Kid, come over here and check to see if I'm doing this right!" Wafa calls.

"Okay, Pajama Girl." Henry says. "The video should be rolling...now!"

When the light flashes red, Helga moves towards the camera and makes a quick, frightening pose in front of it. Then she is out of the video and attacks Wafa. Arnold is in the video and stays where he is.

Wafa screams in panic. When they hear screaming, a mob of over one hundred grown-ups spots the rabbits and enters, including Mr. Pataki, the mailman, the Jolly Old Man, Dr. Bliss, Oskar Kokoshka, Ernie, news reporter Douglass Cain, Mr. Simmons, Principal Wartz, the county Sherriff and his deputies, and several others, along with law enforcement officers, the mayor, a few city councilmen, animal patrol, and park patrol on horseback. The mobsters, whom Peapod Kid and Wafa had betrayed Arnold and Helga, are hiking, carrying torches, knives, and forks, wanting the rabbits dead. Only a few of them are dressing up for Halloween. Mr. Pataki is seeking revenge on the rabbits he thought killed Helga.

"We spotted them!" Said a voice from a distance, followed by the sound of the mob.

Meanwhile off camera, the little squirrel wraps a bandage around Wafa's arm to let it heal. And then a tortoise, in front of the camera, gets close to one of the buckets full of wrapped candy that the squirrel has stored in an evergreen tree. Two squirrels and a porcupine enter the scene.

A tortoise says to Arnold, "They're coming to get you, Arnold! Do me a favor."

"Stand back, Turtle Shell" says the porcupine. "We're about to launch this baby."

The squirrels hold both ends of a piece of rubber band while the porcupine launches the bucket.

The candy is about to land and the mobsters, on the hunt for the bunnies, and now they are going to catch them before they fall. Closer to camera, Arnold looks at the porcupine, smiles, and raise his thumb like "Good Job."

The mobsters, on the other hand, express their problems, initiating a program to prevent bunnies from infesting the necessities of people in the state of Washington.

Mr. Pataki says, "I have three kids. Two of them are twins. One of those twins died ten years ago. But now I lost another."

"Thanks to those bunnies that have been hippity-hoping along a trail of death, terrorizing our city!" says the mayor.

"Yeah!" The crowd shouts.

The camera then turns as Arnold and Helga run off into the woods after Arnold notices a gang of grown-ups.

One of the mobsters shouts, "Get them!"

"This skin is too tight on me, Honey." Arnold runs out of breath.

In the background, the shouting from the mob continues. Arnold and Helga are now taking the mob to a bridge over a narrow, quiet stream. Arnold has hopped off a bridge and fell on a rock. Gerald has just rushed into the woods to save Arnold and in this scene teams up with Wafa and Peapod Kid who comes to help him. Helga is quickly surrounded by the mob when she knows she has to be quiet. But when she sees Mr. Pataki, she chooses to speak aloud. And the mob quiets down a bit.

"Stop! Everybody! You don't understand! I'm not lying!" Helga shouts, "I'm still a wild bunny though I have an owner."

She then points to her dad. "This man, in the green shirt, is not only my owner but my dad!"

"You're no daughter of mine." says Bob.

"Dad, you're lying!" She argues but then jumps off the bridge to try to rescue Arnold.

"No!" Arnold shouts.

Bob says, "That bunny killed my little Helga!"

The mobsters shouted, "Get him!"

"This is really a fun night." says Arnold.

Helga falls into the water, bumps her head onto a rock, gets splashed, therefore getting rid of much of the make-up.

Gerald then hands Arnold a fortune cookie.

"This was from one of your baskets! Take this and run!" He says without knowing it's Arnold.

The two bunnies then run back into the woods. Helga, Deep Voice, does not know Arnold is in a bunny costume. But Arnold finds out that a girl is wearing one when he stares at the white bow to the side of her head. They then squeeze through another rabbit hole. And both of them have planned to reveal themselves by taking off their costumes in hiding. Yet there is enough light from outside to see what they are taking off for fun. And Arnold is frightened of her. It appears as if most of her flesh had been peeled off.

After she removes her furred suit, it is still not clear as to why she assumes it _is _Arnold, due to her opinion that the orphan boy in a suit has a distinct, football-shaped head. He refuses to remove the hood, because he does not know which layers he is wearing. But she knows it already. But Arnold could not guess the kid behind the bunny who came to the fright night party alone to prank on the other kids with such indescribable horror. The teeth are already attached to the bottom front of Helga's mask. Arnold can now tell that someone is wearing a costume because he just heard sound from a zipper; Arnold thought he could be wrong and when he tries to come from behind to take off the mask of terror, she turns around and takes it off.

She says, "So, you call me Honey Bunny? That's not my real name after all." She reaches the mask strap from behind and begins to remove her mask and the teeth. "Oh football head! It's only me!"

"Helga!" Arnold gasps in fear. "You're alive!"

Arnold knows _now_ it is Helga, that way he does not have to be upset.

Her beautiful, glittering blue eyes dazzle as she winks and smiles. An amazingly cute face with a shrouded body in tight-stretching, thin fabric is enough to attract Arnold. And he has guessed correctly. Can anyone imagine Arnold and Helga being a couple, finding their own place to live in? Yet they have not gotten that far in life. And what if they _are_ bunnies, raising their own offspring in the hole?

Well, something is about to go wrong. Helga knows she is mad at herself and tries to hide her frustration. And it looks adorable, especially to Arnold.

He laughs at her and asks, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm peachy." She says.

Helga then quietly gets angry at him, in such an extremely mature way a woman can handle more than a pre-teenager.

"It's Helga G. Pataki, Funny-Bunny!" She says. "Don't you remember me? Well you can't recognize me because…well for one thing…you can't see my hair."

"Stop calling me Bunny, Helga!" Arnold says. "You're ruining my night!"

"And tomorrow, football head, you better not come to school!"

"Ssh! There are people outside. They'll hear you!"

"I'm surprised. Those might be the grown-ups. And they're not the only ones putting you down, you miserable…" she says ferociously.

"You said it, Miss Helga Pataki. Now stop!" Arnold asks politely.

"You little…ugh! An imbecile little creep!" He slaps her and nearly breaks her nose. She then starts to get angry, raise her eyebrows, and lose her temper. "How can you be so cruel? You can't do this to me football head!" Then she settles down. "I mean, this is one of those times when maybe I'm not determined…to love you all the time."

Arnold gets even calmer. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I love you and I care for you."

"Huh?"

The last thing Arnold could remember now was he and Helga laughing together. But then he falls asleep, dreaming of lying in the grass at night, looking at the bright stars, he thinks. But then in that dream, he realizes that he is within the ruins of a church, surrounded by palm trees, zoo animals, ocean waves, and dinosaurs. People inside the church are laughing at him. And the devil himself, who turns out to be Bob Pataki, appears in flames. All of Arnold's friends from P.S. 118 laugh at him and put him on the news, especially Helga. This is the nightmare from hell that Arnold wakes up to in panic, and realizes that neither Helga nor her costume is not in the rabbit hole.

Yet he thinks the prank is not over. He escapes from the borough and hides in the woods with the fortune cookie that was given to him, which reads: "_Every buck needs a doe to make a bunny._" Obviously, Arnold thinks the message is very humiliating.

While in the woods, he is spotted by Gerald Johanssen. Gerald, however, does not know if it is a giant, mutant, white rabbit or just a boy in bunny pajamas. He would have to guess that it's a real rabbit, even as the bunny turns around. Gerald tries to attack Arnold just to seek revenge on one of his worst fears, as the rabbit, standing against a tree makes a creepy gesture with his claws.

Gerald is tricked when he finds out this is only a prank. Peek-a-boo! Arnold reveals his distinct football-shaped head, therefore frightening Gerald even more.

"Gerald, it's me!"

"Arnold!" Gerald says surprisingly.

The boys then greet each other, like they always have been, wiggling their thumbs.

"How did you get here, Arnold?" Gerald asks.

"Look, I'm being honest." says Arnold.

"I know, but how in the world did you get here? Me, Wafa, and Peapod Kid were out looking for you."

"Do you remember that bunny that scared us over at Stinky's?"

"Oh yeah, I remember him. He was actually real."

"It's a she. That was just a costume Helga was wearing. Remember her?"

"Well they said she's dead on the news. She _is _dead. Everyone in the city knows about it. Those giant, mutant…"

"Oh no, Helga is just fine. Are you kidding me? She's still alive. Besides, there's no such thing as a giant, mutant bunny!"

"C'mon, Arnold! Let's get back to Stinky's!"

Arnold then freaks out. "Oh no! My basket is gone!"

"Where'd you last see it? Maybe I can help you." Gerald says.

"It was in the woods somewhere."

"Silly rabbit, you just set it down next to you."

Helga G. Pataki, wearing everything to her bunny costume except for some of the make-up, sneaks behind the tree. She is emptying out the basket by stealing the fortune cookie from it. Therefore the basket is empty. When Arnold does spot the basket, he finds that there is nothing in it. Not even a piece of candy.

The boys then hear an evil laugh, and Arnold is curious as to what the laugh was. He then finds out that Helga is behind him, on the other side of the tree, doing something suspicious, looking as if she is going to rob or stalk someone.

Helga is turning to Arnold and is hoping mad, losing her temper pretty easily. "I can't believe you just snuck up on me and could tell what I was doing, football head."

Arnold apologizes and tells her that he happens to know what the sound is. Arnold is alert and spots Helga's dad with a knife, behind her, ready to kill the beast. While Helga, who is wearing the furred suit and mask, holds the fortune cookie in her hand, it is dropped by mistake.

"Helga, your dad is behind you and he's got a knife!" Gerald warns.

Helga quickly turns around. Terrified, she thought. Her dad wants to kill her, by mistake, for a white rabbit. And it is never too late to scream.

"Helga!" Arnold cries.

While Helga tries to prevent her dad from stabbing her, by grabbing onto the knife, Arnold comes to the rescue.

"Dad!" She cries. "Don't you understand? In all honesty, it's me! Helga G. Pataki!"

Bob Pataki still does not believe her at all. Arnold comes up from behind and scratches Bob's back with the claws from his bunny suit, through his collared shirt, therefore causing the sear of pain. Thus Helga breaks free, while the boys try to catch up with her.

"Helga, wait up!" Arnold calls. "C'mon, Gerald."

Bob is chasing them towards a Cadillac. "Those bunnies don't deserve to live!"

But when Bob Pataki approaches the car, trying to attack the bunnies, Arnold, Gerald, and Helga are already in the trunk and have slammed the door shut.

The weapon could have damaged the trunk door.

There is a girl's voice from inside the trunk: "Catch us if you can, Dad!" Bob notices the voice that was laughing. He thinks it is not Helga, as the car drives away. The Cadillac is being pursued by the angry mob down the street, past the church. It could outfox the running mob, but the mob is getting nearer to it as it stops for gas near the highway. The kids are hiding in the trunk but they cannot escape. The grown-ups are getting closer and closer to Arnold's grandpa's car as he fills up a tank of gas. When they get in contact with the car, Grandpa, in his Halloween costume, got angry.

"Hey, what the hell are you doin' to my car?" He shouts.

The mobsters continue to try to hunt the rabbits down with fists, truncheons, forks and knives; even one sheriffs' deputy fires a pistol at the trunk. The door bursts open and…It's Gerald, Arnold, and Helga!


	4. Chapter 4

The three fifth-graders want to prank the grown-ups. But it's the grown-ups who put them in danger. Gerald gets out of the trunk and scares the adults, at the Village Pantry at the corner of Aspen and Forty-Second, with his zombie outfit. However, Helga and Arnold are in much bigger trouble. They want to stay away from the adults as much as possible. Instead, the grown-ups kidnap them. They drag them by the legs out of the car, carry them on their shoulders, tie their hands up with dead wire, blindfold them, and gag them with duct tape. Bob Pataki has Helga, while his co-worker has Arnold. Helga wants to reveal herself, yet it is too late.

"Dad…mmmph!" She cannot speak, neither can Arnold. They cannot even breathe.

"Let's take out the trash!" Bob says.

The bunnies are then sacked in a plastic trash bag and thrown away in a trash can. Ernie then seals the lid with duct tape and helps Bob carry it to a closet in the windowed basement of the apartment building next door. After they lock the door of the closet, they leave and lock the door to the outside. They think they can get away with killing bunnies by trapping them.

Two robbers are in the basement, creeping, but Bob does not notice them. They are wearing black, full-body, skin suits with black-plastic masks over their faces, standing against the wall of the room they are creeping into from the hallway. But then, they hear a strange noise from one of the vents on the wall.

"Mmmph!"

The masked pranksters want to find out what it is. They know the noise just came from the vent. They find the key to get in the closet, but they are not sure if the key is going to work. Neither of them did know how to open the door with it. They had difficulty with the key, especially with the masks on. And they know they are in a rush to save who is trapped in the closet. Nearly two minutes later, one of the robbers uses the golden key to get in the closet.

When they enter the closet, they are startled by cobwebs on the ceiling, by the window. The garbage can tips over. The masked burglars listen carefully to a cry for help. They do not have a flashlight with them, since they do not want to be recognized. The window at night does not reflect much light to the inside of the room. But that is the only light they are getting, just enough to see what they are doing. One of them figures a way to open the lid of the trash can, by taking the duct tape off.

"Mmmph!" The noise from the can continues.

One of the masked rescuers bends his knees to rip off the duct tape and hears another deep gagging voice. Then both of the robbers open the lid to see what is in it. There is not enough light, but they suddenly grab onto a bag and try desperately to pull it out, but they assume it is too hard.

"Aah! A rat!" A nerdy voice from under one of the masks cries. A black-furred rat helps the rescuers out when it successfully unties the electric wire with its bare claws in order to open the bag. What they discover in the bag are two mutant bunny rabbits crammed together, strangled, tied up, and restrained. All the sudden, they find a football-shaped head and untie the cloth restraining it. The head can see but still cannot say a word.

"Arnold!" one of the mask robbers says as she pulls up her mask.

"Help!" Arnold cries.

Arnold is breathing heavily in his bunny costume. Thankfully the duct tape gets taken off of his mouth.

"Maggie, is that you?" He asks. "Where am I and who is that kid?"

The other robber pulls up her mask and asks, "Are you all right?"

And Arnold says, "_Now_ I'm okay. But now I'm guessing…that one of you is Maggie. You both have the same face as Helga's. Which one is…"

Maggie says, "You already met me, but you don't know my little brother. He's been hell-bound for quite some time. Meet Richie. I can only tell you bits of little pieces. But he is a _genius_ at making costumes, in the fourth grade."

"Richie, pull the hood down so I can see who you are."

"I don't have any hair on my head, silly" says Richie.

"Mum shaved it all off" says Maggie.

Another gagging sound is heard and Arnold says, "Maggie Anne, I think that noise is Helga."

"Don't worry too much." Maggie says. "We'll liberate 'ya good in no time."

Maggie and Richie are trying to pull Arnold out and untie him but it is very difficult for them to reach him from inside the trash can. Arnold will have to crawl out himself in order for the siblings to help him. But that does not seem to work.

Arnold says. "I have an idea."

"What's that?" Maggie asks.

"Do you have a mattress?"

Richie says, "Well, there's a bed in the corner. Nobody ever uses it."

Arnold says, "Okay, you're going to dump me and the other kid in a costume on to the bed."

"All right, bunny boy. Don't get out of there until we dump you, okay. Hold your breath. We're getting the lid sealt."

When the robbers close the separate lid of the garbage can, it does smell terrible still, according to both Arnold and Helga. They are in the dark, crammed, and still cannot breathe. She cannot even talk. Arnold coughs and Helga still cannot talk.

"This is inhumane!" Arnold's voice cries from inside. "That Mr. Pataki had us trapped this way in a bag."

Gerald replies "He thought you were bunnies, but don't worry. You'll be out of prison in just a second. Eventually me, and Maggie and Richie, will have you dumped."

Gerald, Maggie Anne, and her little brother Richie carry the heavy can, which was brought inside from the ghetto streets. It gets heavier for one of the kids, unless all three of them carry it at one time. When they reach the bed, they simply tip the can over. Richie and Gerald hold the can steady; Maggie takes off the duct tape and opens the lid so that the bunnies can breathe and get out of the can safely. Everything gets dumped from the trashcan: Arnold, a couple small cardboard boxes, a vegetable can, and the thing still in the bag.

It looks as if Arnold is gagging, as if he is vomiting. But he wants to make sure Helga is okay.

"Helga, are you all right?" He asks.

Her response…well no one can understand a word she is saying. Gerald, Richie, and Maggie do not know what the sound is.

"The question is are _you _all right?" Gerald asks.

"No." Arnold replies. "It's not fun being in bunny pajamas."

Gerald and the Harris siblings find out what is inside the bag.

"A bunny rabbit!" Maggie gasps in surprise.

"So hideous!" Richie cries.

Arnold is running out of breathe and says, "I know in my heart, I've got to save Helga!"

"But first, let me untie you." Gerald says.

Gerald Johanssen is trying to remove the dead wire off of Arnold's hands, but that is no use.

He asks, "Is this your home?"

Maggie replies, "Of course it is."

Gerald uses his bare hands to free Arnold's hands, yet it did hurt his hands a little.

"I'll be right back!" Richie says. "I'm going to get a clipper from my lab downstairs."

Richie then turns away but her older sister pulls down his back zipper.

He takes off his black suit, revealing his white body suit, therefore revealing only his bald head.

"What?" he fears as if Maggie is going to kill him.

"Silly, Arnold's freed." Maggie replies.

"Mmmph!" Helga screams.

"I gotcha" Arnold tells Helga. He takes the duct tape off of her mouth. "It's okay. We're all safe now."

"Help!" Helga cries. "Untie me!"

Gerald, Richie, and Maggie are surprised to discover an Easter bunny.

"Guys" Helga persuades them all. "It's just me in a costume!"

"Helga, what happened?" Maggie asks. "You were transformed into a giant mutant?"

"You think I'm a real bunny but I'm not."

Arnold unties Helga with the sharpness of his artificial claws.

"Is there a bathroom nearby? I need to change." Arnold asks.

"No. Keep it on, football head! I want everybody to see how humiliating you are."

"But…I can't!" Arnold argues.

Helga says obnoxiously, "And speaking of that, you just ruined my life. I nearly got you killed, football head. Will you forgive me or not?"

Arnold groans and walks away humiliated, while the kids laugh.

Helga loses her temper. "I knew it! That little geekbait doesn't love me! He won't even accept my apology. I tell him not to cry about me. But now, there's water running out of my eyes. I can't help it! I can't even find the bright side of life.

"I'm going to cry if I don't stop Arnold _now_ from taking his costume off!"

Helga conceals herself and starts to cry under her mask.

"Aw cheer up now bunny girl. The fun doesn't end there. It's only the beginning." Maggie tries to comfort her.

Seconds later, Richie knocks on the door.

Arnold says, "Leave me alone!"

Richie says, "I have a proposition. Is that you, Arnold?"

"Yes. What? I'm naked and I don't have any clothes to put on. I'm not letting you in!"

"No. You'll be like everyone else."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we're all going to be bunnies. All of us. You, me, Maggie, Helga, and Gerald."

"But…we don't anybody to know…who we are."

"Exactly! I have a lab, but it's not my room."

Arnold does not say a word when he opens the door with his bunny costume back on.

"It's here in the basement. It can function in many different ways. It even has the latest technology in costume design. I've got enough fur and fabric more than five people can afford."

"Cool! Where's the lab?" Arnold exclaims.

"I'm about to show you. It's the new room I installed by myself. My family and I moved here from Fishers six months ago. Do you know where that is?"

"No I don't." Arnold answers.

"It's just north of Indianapolis." Then he continues. "My dad was a lab technician at Oxford, so my family took all the machinery with us overseas, down here to Hillwood."

"Cool!"

When Richie and Arnold arrive in the lab, they see a rocket ship, surrounded by porcelain walls, new carpet, four computers, various scientific models and machines, and an electric clothing line which provides all kinds of cloth material and acts as a sewing machine.

Richie explains to Arnold, as he reveals the suit and mask, "This costume isn't just tight on you, for a disguise. They're specifically designed to provide texture, style, and perfection."

"I'm scared." Arnold steps back.

"You'll have to face it, since it's Halloween night anyway!" Richie says.

"I face what? My fears?"

"Yeah. Go ahead. Try on the mask."

The football head reluctantly picks up the mask and tries it on. First, Arnold pulls down his bunny hood, puts on the mask then the long-eared hood, and then he zips up his costume. Richie giggles at the mask when he notices that Arnold is feeling the pressure of the furred, artificial mask, which is somewhat difficult to put on. The other kids laugh at him when they enter the room.

"Hey guys, how do I look?" He asks the others.

Helga grins at him and says, "Perfect, Arnold. But you're still football head."

"You don't understand. I'm naked" says Arnold.

A careless Maggie Anne Harris carelessly plays and fights with the machines, while Arnold tells Helga that he likes her bunny costume.

Helga thanks him and asks, "Do you still love me?"

Arnold replies, "Uh…I guess."

Maggie takes her hood off and Richie says, "Arnold, tell this sister of mine to get out of my lab!"

"Remember, Richie…" Maggie reminds. "This is not just your lab. Daddy does his job here too."

"What does he do?" Gerald asks.

"He's an inventor! A blacksmith! A scientist!" Richie says.

"Richie," Arnold says. "You are a genius."

Helga obnoxiously tells Richie, "No doubt, genius stupid, if I could just beat you up…"

"Don't call me that!" Richie warns Helga.

"Richie means it." Arnold says.

Helga says, "What?"

"He says we're all dressing up as bunnies!"

Richie mentions, "Hey do you ever watch "Night of the Lepus'?"

Gerald says, "No."

"It's this new movie about giant, creepy bunnies attacking humans. Remember Douglass Cain?"

Helga replies, "Yeah. He put me on TV last year. It's…I mean…it's his brother-in-law who's directing."

"I have six different kinds of bunny fur for you to choose from. These include albino, maroon-red, dark-brown, black, and grey. They can also be mixed."

"I choose albino for me…and Arnold."

Arnold argues, "No I want red! Not white!"

"You don't need a new costume." Richie says. "All you need is make-up and…and blood cuts, bruises, and stitches all over. I'm trying to make you _less_ humiliating. So don't worry about it."

Gerald decides, "I want to go for brown."

Maggie says, "I choose sepia."

Richie says, "I'll go for that, mixed mostly with black. You know there's a color-mixing machine that can do just that."

"For real?" Gerald asks.

Minutes later, while the rest of the kids try on _their _costumes upstairs, Arnold and Helga creep into the living room where Mr. and Mrs. Harris watch the local news about the infestation of mutant rabbits. Arnold does not want to creep on the couple, but Helga makes him. The make-up has just been applied to them – _as _white bunnies. Other than that, their costumes have not changed.

Rob and Ruth Harris are terribly frightened when the bunnies attack. The couple split up with the news on. Ruth hides for cover while Rob grabs a knife to take the bunnies down, and to protect himself during the attack. They scream and scream and scream! A real nightmare begins!

Arnold knows in his mind that he will be teased, but he is not alone. Helga, on the other hand, does not have to be worried because she is never normally being made fun of in the first place. And since it is Halloween and not Easter, it is time to face the humiliation, since they are going to scare the daylights out of not only grown-ups, but other children as well.

Mr. Harris grabs a broom from the kitchen closet and tries to hit the bunnies with it. But then Helga uses her claws to scratch him in the cheek. A terrified Mrs. Harris steps into the living room. Before she could call the police, Helga tracks her down. Even the devil knows it already.

It is irresistible terror when Rob Harris screams, "Grab the children! It's not safe!" He suspects that there is animal mischief around the house, especially when Arnold creeps on him. A lamp is on the table, cornered near the front door. Arnold makes Mr. Harris accidentally bump into the table, sending two picture frames, and the lamp, dropping onto the marble floor.

Ruth Harris rushes through the door of the windowless bathroom and shrieks. She just spotted three mutant hares creeping with clothes lying all over the floor. She runs in constant panic as they creep out of the bathroom. Arnold and Helga join them in a vicious attack; the clawed hands of their costumes, in front of Ruth's face.

The Harris' have a blacked-furred pet rabbit named Merlin, who is well-disciplined – for sure. As Ruth is about to climb up the stairs, Richie, who is in a costume, touches her shoulder. Yet she does not know if it is her son. She thinks it is Merlin, yet both Mr. and Mrs. Harris are frightened. They suppose he grew into a monster and invited other rabbits to take part in a fright night feast.

For that, they think Merlin should be punished, locked in his cage. They do not understand why cute bunnies would act in such a way. Hopefully the costumes will definitely prevent the kids' chances of getting into serious trouble.

Mr. Harris grabs the black mutant and tells him to go to his cage.

"C'mon, let's get outta here." Gerald persuades the other kids.

Then Mr. Harris lets go of Richie as he spots a Kit-Kat Bar lying on a table and calls to whom he thinks are the giant mutant rabbits, "You want it, come and get it!"

When the piece of candy is thrown, Gerald, with the weird hairdo, catches it before it could touch the floor. Maggie and Richie's parents are sighed with relief when the bunnies quickly make their way out the front door, into the night with the Harris' empty buckets of candy. The parents fear for the safety of neighbors residing nearby and everyone in town they know well or care about the most. So the home phone, on the buffet, is being used to dial 911. Ruth then persuades her husband to contact a local news station.

The mutants begin their rampage on Forty-Second Street and stopped by several houses to collect candy from local residents. Although the residents scream in panic every time the rabbits say "Trick or Treat", some give candy to them. Some trick them too, but the tricks are not even enough to trick Arnold and the gang. What can seize or outweigh the terror of the "creatures" of the night? Nobody really knows for sure, because people throughout Hillwood are overwhelmed by abrupt news that could disturb the public and infest the human race, in addition to the cathedral fire from the previous night.

Everyone believes what other people are talking about. Everyone fears the growing fear. People learn about the situation in their homes. People learn about it while standing outside the store watching TV. People learn about it while going out on the town. People learn about it while they are at a Halloween dance. People learn about it while they work out at the gym. People learn about it while they shop at the mall. People learn about it, even when they are asleep.

Helga, Gerald, Maggie, and Richie are given something good to eat. Everything Arnold gets is a rock. Although he wants softer candy, he also wants blood. The five kids in bunny costumes are not only willing to victimize the grown-ups but other kids as well. The bunny gang is on a rampage of unspeakable horror. Knocking on people's doors and going out in the streets, they not only frighten the citizens of Hillwood City and throw them into madness but make them feel the singe of the sharp claws, scratching their bodies until they bleed. Drinking blood is even worse. It is not only disgusting but immoral, because there are a few verses in the bible that forbid the Israelites from consuming blood. But in times of danger, faithful Christians know that God will deliver them from evil and they too shall never forget Psalm 23: The LORD is my shepherd. There is nothing I shall want.

After over an hour of hiding from the tormented citizens of Hillwood, provoking dread in them throughout their neighborhood and igniting controversy amongst radio and television broadcasts, the giant rabbits are surrounded outside the house across the street from the Patakis by a mob of other kids in Halloween costumes, including two grim reapers in black hoods, discovered to be Wolfgang and Ludwig, both friends from school. The people standing with these boys are from some of the major youth gangs in Hillwood, like the Hustle Boyz Click, the San Juan Asian Mafia, and several groups of skinheads, Nazis, and other white supremacists.

"What'cha doin' out here at night, football head?" Wolfgang asks.

Arnold is lost in thought. "We're just trick or treating!"

"Not only that." says a lady in an SS officer costume. "You're infesting the Aryan race."

The gang leader of the Hustle Boys Click asks, "Do you have ten dollars? I'm gonna order a couple Charlie Browns."

Charlie is slang for cocaine. The fifth graders in bunny costumes know that drugs are not safe, and it would be better to stay away from doing bad things or saying bad words.

The people surrounding Arnold's group do not know who is behind the costumes, yet they are assuming that they are really giant, mutant bunnies.

"Look you're not going anywhere, football head" says Wolfgang.

Helga says obnoxiously to be funny, "Who are _you _calling football head when…" She gets lost in thought. "It's Halloween and…I can't reveal the mask."

"Why not?" says Ludwig. "He don't have no clothes?

"Shut up, Ludwig!" says Wolfgang van Altz.

A skinhead, shorter in height than Arnold, comes up to Helga and says "You know young Hustle Boy niggers don't know anything about the Easter bunny."

Pushing Arnold's arm, Helga says, "Not only that, he has a football-shaped head!"

The kids humiliate Arnold wearing a bunny costume by laughing at him, while he runs away into a dark alley and the rest of the kids stay.

The short skinhead calls at him. "You want to fight?"

Arnold turns around, wondering what the noise is and walks back onto the sidewalk where the other members of his group are.

And then the short Nazi skinhead, dressed as Frankenstein, walks up to him and says, "Don't be afraid. Someone gave me twenty bucks to turn you into stew."

Arnold gets into the boy's space "I couldn't have said it better myself."

"That's what I said, Snowflake!"

"It's Arnold, dude, and if you think you can beat me up think again. I don't know about you, but I get teased a lot, as much as you'll be tonight."

The kid gets scared and tries to remind Arnold. "Forget me not, you're going too far."

Arnold says, "I'm going to shove a bunch of candy into your mouth, make you swallow them at one time, and make you throw up."

Helga giggles and Richie asks her, "What's so funny?"

And she says, "Arnold's sure a bully! How ridiculous is that?"

"Usually…" says Wolfgang. "Bunnies are prey."

"Well…" Arnold adds. "We have one exception!"

Still, Arnold, Gerald, Maggie, Richie, and Helga know better not to reveal themselves. So with the clawed hands of the costumes they are wearing, they scare the crowd away, running like crazed cats, waiting for a fight. But the Nazi who just called Arnold "Snowflake" is not able to escape the terror of the mutant bunnies. Arnold, Richie, and Gerald end up scratching him, causing some bodily injury, while Maggie and Helga grab his arms and legs. They use this bloody method of torture for some of their victims. So far, twelve people have, by now, been rushed to hospitals where they are expected to survive their injuries. But it is possible that post-traumatic stress will evoke horror.


	5. Chapter 5

Nearby the streets are packed with people walking and driving around searching for the bunnies. Many of the kids here are trick or treating tonight, just like every year. They are afraid that the rabbits may end up stealing their candy and coming after them.

Meanwhile at home, Bob Pataki tucks the body of a little girl into Helga's bed, the body which is believed to be Helga's. When he discovers the body, he sees blood flowing from the girl's stomach. The girl already has been bathed by Miriam. Now Bob happened to find something: a gun-shot wound to the girl's chest. He thinks it would be simply crazy to think about any bunny using a gun and shooting people. He then notices the body is not Helga's, because the corpse has various facial features.

Bob then walks downstairs and gets a call back from his parents. Olga, who may now be an only child again, is being consoled by Miriam on the couch as they both weep.

Miriam tells Olga, "The twins are in heaven now. They will be on the lookout for you every day, for the rest of your life. You may not find your brother and sister; they are everywhere." She faints and Olga keeps sobbing on her new bunny costume and runs to her father while he is still using the phone.

Her grandma Geraldine hangs up when she and Eugene, her husband, hop out of their white Cadillac Deville. Their eyes are full of tears. The doorbell rings. Bob, Miriam, and Olga are frightened, so frightened, that the bunnies will be coming after them. Bob answers the door and is being consoled by his loving parents. In the living room he tells them that they brought home the wrong body, before he could call the funeral home. Olga, by her daddy's side, and Miriam, who is about to get ready for bed, are relieved. They think Helga died but they are yet to be certain.

It is around ten forty-five, and Bob is about to go out to the bar when he spots five bunny rabbits walking down the street and beats up the green-eyed one.

Gerald tries to save Arnold, at least, from great bodily injury. It may look like Arnold is getting hurt. Inside the suit, however, there is an invisible, thin coat of armor that lines up his body and provides protection from any bump, tear, or injury. Arnold cannot escape Helga's dad, though he is not feeling any pain.

Meanwhile Helga and the others who are with Arnold hold Gerald Johanssen back to stop him because they were about to walk up to Helga's front doorstep. Gerald turns his head back, worried that his best friend will get hurt. On the bright side, the kids have lots of candy from around the world in their buckets. Miriam Pataki and her family are obviously frightened when the kids in bunny costumes wait at the front door and she comes to answer it. Immediately when she opens the door, the kids find out that Miriam is crying. Before the kids can say "Trick or Treat" Miriam shrieks and is shutting the door on the kids. But Helga wants Miriam to know that she is alive. So then Helga holds the door open, breaks in, and invites her friends in. Miriam thinks that the bunnies are stalking her, but one of _them_ tells Miriam that Helga is one of the bunnies.

Outside, Arnold escapes Mr. Pataki's fists while he finds out what the screaming is all about. When Bob Pataki walks back into the house, he finds four bunnies ripping off their white fur. Miriam and the rest of the family are obviously shocked to see a bunny rabbit without skin. Arnold knocks on the front door and Helga calls him to come in. Her family soon finds out that the bunnies are just costumes when the masks get taken off. According to Helga's family, they now happen to guess that the living things behind the terror of the night were bandits in red full-body hoods, strangers who may not be familiar. They believe it is not Helga.

They beat the kids up one by one and Arnold comes to the rescue. He is in the house but is hiding in a closet.

"Get out now before I call the cops!" Bob Pataki yells from downstairs.

Arnold overhears him without knowing who the man is talking to. While he hears Helga's voice, as she tries to persuade her father that it is her under the hood of a costume, Miriam and Olga hug her. Yet Helga G. Pataki had a blank face. Bob does not believe her. In the meantime, Arnold takes his bunny suit off and when he hears a scream, he comes out of the closet with only his boxers on. Of the four friends who were just with him, three of them have rushed out the door. And only one of them is tied up in a chair and gagged with duct tape.

Everyone downstairs is embarrassed when Arnold rushes downstairs to save one of his friends.

"Mr. Pataki!" he calls.

Bob says, "Hey! Who are you? Some kid in a Tarzan suit?"

"Mr. Pataki…" Arnold persuades. "That kid is somebody you know. Here, let me see who it is."

Helga's family does nothing but curiosity to find out who is behind the costume. The kid in the red hood makes a lot of noise as it panics in an attempt to escape.

As he tries to free the kid, Arnold tells her that "It's okay. I'm here to save you".

The Patakis do not leave the kitchen. Not knowing it is a boy or a girl, Arnold asks the kid to remove its costume. The Patakis know that Helga is missing, whereas Arnold knows she is alive after two hours. He and the other people in the room pray that kid would be Helga Pataki, but that is still unclear. It takes the kid a long time to take off its Halloween costume, so Arnold helps the kid.

The kid removes both zentai suits, lifting a veil on a hidden headdress and on pink underwear and bras to reveal the secret that the kid is a girl. She then removes the headdress and reveals her hair. The only thing that is missing is her bow.

"Helga!" Arnold gasps.

"What are you doing here football head?" Helga says. "You're naked!"

"Sorry." He walks away and makes Helga feel empty inside.

"Helga," Bob kindly interrupts. "We were very worried about you. Come here."

Her family feels like they have been reunited with Helga again. Bob carries her and hugs her tightly in his arms. When Helga gets back down she is still mad.

The doorbell is ringing and Arnold is hiding in the small bathroom of a cold, crowded basement. Helga, in her nightgown, is searching for him. Arnold has the door locked and Helga is trying to get in. In the bathroom, Arnold is holding the door shut to prevent someone from breaking in. Outside, Helga knows she has an evil conspiracy and she carries it out. She sneaks up to the door, grabs the key from under the door, and unlocks it. Arnold fights with the door handle while still touching the wood of the door. He pushes the door with all his strength to avoid intrusion.

He says, "Please give me my privacy for Pete's sake! Give me some clothes!"

However, he loses that battle because Helga marches in and says, "You know what time it is."

Arnold begs, "Please I need privacy and I need to borrow the white suit you were just wearing."

Helga gets kinder and says "Oh your fine, you can go ahead and take…"

The irony is that she shakes her head and raises her eyebrows. "I'd rather you not, football head! Why…"

"Look," Arnold interrupts. "I need to get home, okay."

"Arnold, you're being rude! Why is that? There are people waiting like outside!"

"Look, I need clothes."

"That'll cost you a wedgie in your face, Arnold!"

"Helga, I can't go out like this or in my bunny suit. People will just humiliate me. And you said you would be nice enough to give me something to wear."

"You're fine just like that. Now will you please get out of my house?"

Arnold gets frustrated and runs out of the bathroom. "That is it. I'm finding that white suit!"

Helga chases Arnold around the basement, pulls his underwear strap to the top of his head, and laughs at him. Arnold does not like it. Helga runs the other way. Arnold grabs a towel from the bathroom and wears it around his waist to cover his boxers, after taking the underwear off his head. When he sees Helga, he chases her up the stairs while she climbs them. When they get upstairs, they hear the traditional greeting, "Trick or Treat". The front door is opened and Miriam Pataki passes candy around to kids from the party Arnold was at tonight. All the sudden, kids from around the neighborhood see a boy with a shower towel and a girl with a nightgown from outside. The kids start to laugh when the towel suddenly falls off of Arnold. Miriam turns around and giggles, looking at him.

"Good night, Arnold." Helga says politely.

Arnold continues to beg her for some clothes. But she slams the door. It feels like he is being made fun of by the whole neighborhood as he walks away from the house, looking down on the sidewalk, heading home. Some kids throw candy at him; and some kids point fingers at him. One of them even gives him a wedgie. Arnold knows that this is not the first and definitely not the last time he can be humiliated in public.


End file.
